He studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. He then obtained his specialization in the United States between 1956 and 1957. He became a teacher at Middle East Technical University after returning to Turkey. In 1965, he was awarded his professorship and became a lecturer at the State Academy of Architecture and Engineering.

Özal entered politics through the National Salvation Party; he was elected as the party's Erzurum deputy in the 1973 and 1977 elections. In 1974, he worked as the Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock in the CHP-MSP coalition government, and later in the First Nationalist Front Government established in 1975. He served as the Interior Minister Second Nationalist Front cabinet in 1977 for six months. Korkut Özal suffered a traffic accident on September 25, 1980, and withdrew from politics after the coup d'etat of September 12, 1980. His brother, Turgut Özal served as president until his 1993 death, after which Korkut Özal re-entered politics through the Motherland Party and was elected as an Istanbul deputy in 1995. The Presidency of the Parliamentary Interior Commission and the OSCE Turkey Parliamentary Group.[5] The Anasol-D government, which was established in 1997, maintained the opposition by thinking about the reporters, even if we were to respond to ANAP policies. The party resigned on August 13, 1997, after the opposition within the party remained inconclusive. He entered the newly established Democratic Party and was elected president of the party at the Democratic Party Congress on 28 September 1997. On March 22, 2001, he left the chairmanship of the Democratic Party.
Korkut Özal, the brother of Turgut Özal, the President of the Republic of Turkey, died on November 2, 2016, at his home in Istanbul. He was buried by his family in the Topkapi Cemetery.